Disc I01. Scavenger Of Human Sorrow02. Bite The Pain03. Spirit Crusher04. Story To Tell05. Flesh And The Power It Holds06. Voice Of The Soul07. To Forgive Is To Suffer08. A Moment Of Clarity09. Painkiller [Judas Priest cover]

This is it. Finally, after more than 10 years of waiting, we have got It. The one, the only the true thrash metal album. Death have had six releases, have made some drastic changes in their style and have achieved it finally.

Despite being labeled as the fathers of death metal, only their first album is truly death metal, mainly due to vocal abilities of main-man Chuck Schuldiner, who was never really a death vocal. His singing has steadily and gradually evolved into more and more shrieking, until now on this album we hear him really screaming. Not many people came to terms with it and have accepted, but it is what thrash metal is all about. Its most distinct feature are the vocals and Chuck has shown what thrash vocals should sound like. Screaming, aggressive, full of feeling, coming right from the heart. True thrash metal that is.

Not only vocals, but the rhythm section is another display of the perfect sound of thrash. The drums can't be quite distinctly heard, they are no separate instrument, they are together with music, a living part of. There is no "bang-bang", I'll rip your head off, there is steady drumming, supplying the guitarists with superb feeling of rhythm. The bassist puts up a very good effort, playing his part with a lot of technique and precision. His trade-mark bass-sound will be left through the years for generations and generations and every bassist will learn from it how to get heard and not be boring or interfering in the overall guitar sound.

And, of course, Chuck's contribution to the album is not done with singing his thrash vocals. He has had six albums already and on every one of them has played his genius solos, never getting the listener tired of them or repeating him, sheer genius. And the last album in Death's existence goes to show that six albums weren't enough to give everything from him away. His genius has never really been doubted, but it has also never ended. On "The Sound?" we don't get the separate solos, we are used to when listening any band, we have solos and rhythmic guitar-work united in one whole. This is why I really love saying that Death have gather pieces of their music together and have done the most remembering thrash album with the most coherent and full sound. Pure 100 per cent genius.

This an album coming in time when thrash's glorious days have long gone in the past and death's heyday has also passed. And however it shows how young thrash metal is and how easy it got forgotten. This is also the display of the best developing of a bands sound - the early albums, not so convincing and the last ones the best ones.

This is the most mature, true pure and-by-the-book thrash metal album, uniting technique and speed in one in a fabulous manner, producing the best creation of the dying beast of thrash metal. It is a masterpiece and that is not exaggerated.

I'm not going to start this review with whining about how unfortunate we are for having lost Chuck Schuldiner back in 2001 and The Sound Of Perseverance being the last Death album. Chuck was a great musician indeed, but fate was too cruel to him, and he passed away. The legacy in form of his music though is with us, so let's talk about it.

What started off from Individual Thought Patterns and continued through Symbolic as a slight progressive-thrash deviation for Death casts its full blown dominance in The Sound Of Perseverance. Just before Chuck goes out with his plans on Control Denied, this album comes out.

It is very hard to single out highlight songs from an album with so many exquisite technical creations, nevertheless, "Scavenger OF Human Sorrow", "Spirit Crusher", "Voice Of the Soul", "Bite the Pain", "A Moment Of Clarity" stand out among the tracks. Listening to the whole album from beginning to the end is a downright MUST and also a request.

What better name for a metal band? Especially one concentrating so fixedly on the snuffing out of life? The sonic blood-curdling career of mainman Chuck Schuldiner is one of the most celebrated in the development of death metal as a thrash sub-genre. Death were the daddies of this hack 'n' slay brand of guitar violence, and anyone with even the vaguest wish to count themselves as practitioners of extreme noise, from Carcass to Deicide, from Obituary to Cannibal Corpse, would count Schuldiner's unholy racket as a major influence.

Comments

I really do not get why this reviewer keeps calling it a thrash metal album. Sure, it isn't a pure death metal album and they clearly defined a more progressive sound here, but I still wouldn't call it thrash. Like, not at all.
The other thing I disagree with is that their first album was the only 'true' death metal album they did. Everything before and including Human still sounds pretty death metal to me, including Chuck's vocals. :-S

Yeah I don't get that either..It's a bit too death metal to be thrash IMO. I thought it was an awesome album though.

It's an excellent album. I still can't get over how insane the Painkiller cover is. Chuck's vocals are magnificent (and often very unpredictable) on the whole album

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MorbidEggrollAccount deleted

06.10.2006 - 06:42

MorbidEggrollAccount deleted

I have to agree with both of you completely. A brilliant album and, in my opinion, a genre defining one as well. It is the textbook for prog-death. As far as yanko, he has reviewed all of the death albums on here and his reviews are troubling indeed. For one, i am hoping english is his second language because they are very VERY poorly written and often make no sense at all. Also, he said that Individual Thought Patterns was their second weakest album....WHAT?!?!?!?! I dunno if i would call them reviews anyway. They read more like footnotes in a bad encylopedia death metal

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buttsechsAccount deleted

09.12.2006 - 04:36

buttsechsAccount deleted

this album is legendary and yet Metalstorm displays this review? lol. would've been nice if it got a better reviewer even with the 9.9 rating. anyone else would've done a better job. still, the 9.9 doesn't change the fact that this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Death will forever be the kings of prog-death and that's all there is to it. "the only true thrash metal album"?!! i'm sorry but that statement was like so far beyond stupid and out of line that i'm gonna stop writing here.

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Death-UnlimitedAccount deleted

16.02.2007 - 20:46

Death-UnlimitedAccount deleted

I'm a big fan of death, my fav album is probably human, but i was so disappointed with this album, i would even dare to call it technical wankery, this is a case where superb technical ability isn't enough to make a great album. there's too much technical showing-off, which just gets in the way and actually spoils songs, there were misplaced interludes or parts of songs that shouldn't have been kept, which are frankly annoying, as they disrupt the direction and flow of the song, plus the song construction isn't all that good: a riff is played (sometimes random and misplaced), then there's a fantastic solo, and then the song repeats itself. But on the plus side, chuck's vocals are really good (and man those cries on painkiller give me chills! the cover song is really good) and there are lots of riffs and melodies that stuck in my head . so i think the musicianship is good, but the album gets repetative (within each song), too much technical showcasing and a lack of direction, flow, and atmosphere. Death have done much better in their progressive era, I'd give this a 6

And i feel i don't need to bother in detail that the reviewer is chatting bullshit.... true thrash metal indeed

Usually i like more of the death metal bands "death - era" like in the case of amorphis. although i liked more of death's first three i tried to listen something from death's another end. First time i heard " to forgive is to suffer " i was catch by the great musical cosmos that opened to me from the receivers for the few minutes. Then i though that i could try the same song with lyrics. Doing that i sank more deeper in the cosmos. Schuldiners screaming seems to come so naturally , more naturally than the death rattle on the first albums. i have had much problems listening to progressive because they're just bit too progressive, i like more of the music which is played in traditional forms but these songs from sound of perseverance did erase my progephobia entirely . if the other songs on this album are even something like "to forgive is to suffer" i think i must march to the recordstore really soon. Still dont get the thrash thing in this review

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Sonic TitanAccount deleted

18.07.2007 - 03:14

Sonic TitanAccount deleted

i listened to this album everyday for like 8 months i was so stunned i kept asking myself how the fuck do these guys do it?

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CrimsonSoakedAccount deleted

17.08.2007 - 16:27

CrimsonSoakedAccount deleted

This is simply a kind of album made only once in a decade or even more seldom ? One of the Best albums I've ever heard in all it's musical complexity and existentialistic lyrics (which still haven't fully opened to me), awesome entity and musical experience, recommending to everybody. R.I.P Chuck Schuldiner, may your music live forever !

Thrash metal?? I wouldnt say so. This is album with many progressive elements, and if you ask me - thrash is all but progressive. I dont know, but Death from Human to the end is like a definition for Technical Death Metal.
It seems like the reviewer just wanted to point out that The Sound Of Perseverance is excellent thrash album - which I only partially agree: excellent - yes, thrash - no way.

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Mad LaughterAccount deleted

27.09.2007 - 04:45

Mad LaughterAccount deleted

Yea this reviewer has no business writing reviews....or even listening to metal if he doesn't know that Sound of Perseverance is in no way thrash....

Sound of Perseverance is Prog/Death....

But I like it alot. "Spirit Crusher" and "To Forgive is to Suffer" are the best tracks on the album IMO. The essential Death is of course the thrashy stuff (Scream Bloody Gore and Leprosy), which helped to define death metal.

@ charless: very good choices indeed...maybe i would choose the same....

this is an amazing album that everytime i listen to it, it blows me away!!! every metal fan that likes this kind of metal should definitely own it....

as far as the review....obviously agreed that it is a masterpiece...about it being thrash though (by saying that all the time the review is completely ruined)...i have my doubts....then again it is not your typical death album either....it is definitely progressive.....but to be honest i dont care at all....i like it anyway....

When I read this review, I just thought there was a fanboy behind the whole text. Come on, it is a great album and all, but just repeating how "genius" the members are and how "perfect" everything sounds is... boring. And like everyone else pointed out, it sounds odd to refer this as thrash.

What comes to the album, it is amazing. It is sad that the band had to quit as everyone would want more of this.

When I read this review, I just thought there was a fanboy behind the whole text. Come on, it is a great album and all, but just repeating how "genius" the members are and how "perfect" everything sounds is... boring. And like everyone else pointed out, it sounds odd to refer this as thrash.

What comes to the album, it is amazing. It is sad that the band had to quit as everyone would want more of this.

He never was a good reviewer, but he actually did have potential (case in point: his review of Scream Bloody Gore). But meh, he's long gone now.

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Yes, Death is not like in the first albums (Scream Bloody Gore, Leprosy)
But it is certainly not a thrash metal album, Understanding the complexity of the riffs
and the musical arrangements behind it how can someone describe it as pure Thrash Metal ?
First, Death hasn't lost all of its Death Metal influences, keeping chaotic riffs and fast paced drumming.
What changed? Its quite simple, Chuck experimented and put some progressive elements in it
Making a Progressive Death Metal band but I would never call that Thrash even if the vocals are not growls or pure chaotics shouts, the voice is not the only factor that decided whether or not a band is Thrash and/or Death Metal...